THE IMPLICATION OF PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT ON TEACHING AND LEARNING OF BUSINESS STUDY
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ABSTRACT
This project work is focused on the implication of professional misconduct on teaching and learning of business studies in Shomolu Local Government District of Lagos State. Until recently, professional misconduct has been so rampant in our secondary schools to the extent that teaching and learning of business study activities are seriously distorted. The study was guided by two theories: Bandura's Social Learning Theory and Dreikurs' Social Discipline Model. The study was undertaken in Shomolu Local Government Area public secondary schools. The research involved 110 respondents; 10 headteachers and 100 members of the teaching staff. Simple random sampling was used in selecting 10 public schools and, consequently, 10 teachers per school. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. All the information was collected through questionnaires which largely had closed-ended questions with a few open-ended questions. Data collected were analysed by use of descriptive statistics for quantitative data. Frequency and percentage tables and graphs were used to present the data. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data processing and analysis of quantitative data, while content analysis was used in analysing qualitative data. The study revealed that the common professional misconduct cases among the teaching staff were missing classes, failure to come to school, failure to seek permission from the school administration, absconding duties and refusal to obey seniors. The study found that the major causes of misconduct among teachers were pressure to perform well, irregular promotion, and poor school infrastructure. The study also found that all the headteachers had used verbal warning as a disciplinary action against teachers, while other approaches used included written warning and the setting up of a disciplinary committee. The study recommended that headteachers should minimise pressure on teachers to perform well and should set up remedial classes in agreement with the teaching staff.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines a professional as somebody connected with a job that requires special training and skill, or one that requires a high level of education, while misconduct refers to unacceptable behaviour by such a person, or poor management of one's duties. Building on this, Nnorom and Ezenwagu (2020) describe professional misconduct as conduct in which a certified practitioner performs the duties of a profession outside the boundaries that the profession itself permits, thereby breaching the trust reposed in the practitioner by virtue of the calling. Applied to teaching, professional misconduct denotes any act by a teacher that falls short of, or is at variance with, the ethical standards that the teaching profession has set for itself.
Business studies, on its part, is concerned with the study of subjects connected with money, trade and the management of enterprise; at the junior secondary level in Nigeria, the subject is designed to lay the foundation for entrepreneurial and vocational competence among learners (Buba, 2020). It becomes pertinent, therefore, to examine what implication professional misconduct on the part of teachers holds for the teaching and learning of business studies at the junior secondary school level. Teaching, like any other profession, has a code of ethics or standard meant to guide and direct the appropriate use of professional competence; without such standards, professional competence may be misused or misdirected, and the school is unlikely to achieve its stated goals and objectives.
According to Okpo (2023), a virtue-ethics approach to the teaching profession holds that qualities such as honesty, fairness, integrity and practical wisdom, rather than a mechanical adherence to a rulebook alone, are what should truly guide a teacher's everyday conduct; teachers who embody such virtues are less inclined to engage in acts capable of injuring their students or damaging the good name of the profession. In Nigeria, the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria has, since its establishment, maintained a Teachers' Code of Conduct that spells out how a teacher is expected to relate with learners, colleagues, the school administration and the wider public, and that further provides for a Disciplinary Committee and an Investigating Panel empowered to sanction erring teachers (TRCN, 2020).
Okon and Odu (2020) note that a teacher's legal and professional responsibility extends well beyond the four walls of the classroom, covering appropriate conduct towards learners, parents, colleagues and the community, and that any departure from this responsibility exposes the teacher to disciplinary sanction and, in serious cases, legal liability. In a related study of public secondary schools in Tanzania, Arnold and Mwila (2022) found that where the professional code of conduct is poorly internalised by teachers, forms of misconduct such as absenteeism, unbecoming dressing and disrespectful language toward learners tend to increase, and that these interfere directly with the teaching-learning process; a majority of the students sampled in that study identified teacher absenteeism as a recurring problem that hindered curriculum coverage and academic performance. Findings of this nature lend weight to the assumption of the present study that unprofessional conduct on the part of teachers of business studies is capable of distorting the subject's teaching and learning process in Nigerian junior secondary schools as well.
The present study is anchored on Bandura's Social Learning Theory and Dreikurs' Social Discipline Model, both of which are examined more fully in the review of related literature in Chapter Two. Briefly, however, recent scholarship continues to affirm the relevance of both positions to present-day classroom practice. Graham (2022) demonstrated that the self-efficacy construct central to Bandura's theory remains a strong predictor of learner motivation and behaviour in the classroom, underlining the continued importance of observational learning to how students absorb not only academic content but also the conduct modelled by their teachers. In a similar vein, Thilagaratnam and Yamat (2021), working within a disciplinary framework closely related to Dreikurs' social discipline model, found that clearly communicated classroom rules, firmly and respectfully enforced, improved learner behaviour and reduced classroom disruption, a finding consistent with Dreikurs' original position that logical consequences, rather than harsh punishment, produce more lasting discipline. Taken together, these theories inform the assumption that teachers who exhibit misconduct provide students with behavioural models which the students, being observant social learners, are likely to imitate in their own conduct as future participants in business and economic life.
One may argue that ethical failure in adult business life is a self-caused problem for which individuals alone must answer. Yet the illustration of a child who does not understand what fire can do, but who can be kept from harm once its danger is explained, is instructive: a student who has been deliberately taught, while still at school, to be honest, loyal and disciplined in dealing with others is less likely to be led into the kind of unethical practices that later ruin careers, businesses and public institutions.
Business studies, properly understood, is not limited to buying and selling; it is needed across manufacturing, contracting, the civil service, banking and even the teaching profession itself, since any activity that involves the handling of money or resources is, in a sense, a business undertaking. Okoro (2023) argues that business education equips learners with practice-oriented knowledge and entrepreneurial skills necessary for self-reliance, and therefore occupies a central place in preparing young Nigerians for gainful engagement in the economy, whether in paid employment or in self-owned enterprise. Buba (2020), however, cautions that the intended benefits of business studies at the junior secondary level can only be realised where the subject is taught by teachers who are themselves properly trained, adequately supervised and committed to ethical practice.
A teacher of business studies must, therefore, acquaint students with the consequences of dishonesty, the acceptance of bribes, neglect of duty and the practice of a trade or profession beyond its authorised scope. Nigeria's own regulatory framework, the Teachers' Code of Conduct issued by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, similarly frowns at such acts and prescribes sanctions ranging from warning to outright dismissal for teachers found culpable (TRCN, 2020).
It is fairly well established that business, both in the private and public sectors, has in many respects become an avenue for corrupt practice, with attendant damage to the nation's economy. Okpo (2022), examining character and virtue within the Nigerian banking profession, argues that the erosion of virtues such as honesty, fairness and trustworthiness among practitioners in business-related fields carries costs that extend well beyond the individual firm to the wider economy. Ayechew Ayenalem, Gone, Yohannes and Lakew (2023), in a related study of secondary school teachers in Ethiopia, found that economic hardship, inadequate training in professional ethics, unsupportive supervision and unfavourable working conditions were among the leading causes of professional misconduct among teachers, a pattern this study suspects may equally apply, in varying degrees, to teachers in Shomolu Local Government Area of Lagos State. If this trend is to be checked, teachers who handle business studies must take seriously their obligation to acquaint learners with both the benefits of ethical business conduct and the ruin that attends its abandonment.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
There is a growing need, in Nigeria as elsewhere, for professionalism capable of bringing about the desired transformation of society for the wellbeing of all. Yet, several problems have surfaced in the academic performance of junior secondary schools that appear traceable, at least in part, to professional misconduct among teachers, including:
i. mass failure in external examinations;
ii. truancy;
iii. disobedience; and
iv. hooliganism, among other forms of indiscipline.
Recent studies lend empirical weight to these concerns. Ogunrinbokun, Salawu and Oluwole-Moses (2023), studying junior secondary business studies students in Lagos State, found that conditions capable of undermining learning, including poorly managed and overcrowded classrooms, were associated with reduced concentration and, ultimately, poorer academic achievement among the students. Ayechew Ayenalem et al. (2023) similarly found that unsupportive supervision, together with teachers' declining commitment to duty, contributed significantly to the spread of professional misconduct in the schools they studied, while Nnorom and Ezenwagu (2020) reported that where misconduct such as absenteeism, lateness and disregard for the curriculum is left unchecked, students eventually lose interest in learning, and some are withdrawn from school altogether by disappointed parents.
Given that business studies is intended to prepare junior secondary students for eventual participation in Nigeria's economy, whether as employees or as entrepreneurs, any erosion of the subject's teaching and learning process arising from teachers' unprofessional conduct is a matter deserving of close empirical investigation. It is against this background that the present study sets out to examine the implication of professional misconduct on the teaching and learning of business studies in public secondary schools in Shomolu Local Government Area of Lagos State.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of the study is to examine professional misconduct and its implication for, and possible hindrance to, the teaching and learning of business studies among junior secondary school students in Shomolu Local Government Area of Lagos State. Specifically, the study sought to:
i. establish the forms of professional misconduct among the teaching staff involved in the teaching and learning of business studies in Shomolu Local Government Area;
ii. determine the causes of professional misconduct among the teaching staff involved in the teaching and learning of business studies in Shomolu Local Government Area;
iii. investigate the consequences of teachers' professional misconduct on the teaching and learning of business studies in public secondary schools in Shomolu Local Government Area;
iv. find out the administrative practices applied by headteachers in the teaching and learning of business studies in Shomolu Local Government Area that may give rise to professional misconduct among teachers; and
v. identify the approaches preferred by headteachers in enhancing discipline among the teaching staff involved in the teaching and learning of business studies in Shomolu Local Government Area.
1.4 Research Questions
i. What are the forms of professional misconduct among the teaching staff in the teaching and learning of business studies in Shomolu Local Government Area?
ii. What are the causes of professional misconduct among the teaching staff in the teaching and learning of business studies in Shomolu Local Government Area?
iii. What are the consequences of teachers' professional misconduct on the teaching and learning of business studies in public secondary schools in Shomolu Local Government Area?
iv. What administrative practices do headteachers apply in the day-to-day running of their schools that may give rise to professional misconduct among teachers?
v. What approaches do headteachers use to enhance discipline among the teaching staff?
1.5 Significance of the Study
In view of the rapid growth of professional misconduct, teachers must be held to, and must themselves maintain, a pace consistent with the ethics of the profession if the rising rate of professional misconduct at the junior secondary level is to be checked. This study should prove useful in several respects.
First, it should provide useful evidence on the effects of professional misconduct on teaching and learning performance in business studies. As Arnold and Mwila (2022) found in Tanzania, weak internalisation of a professional code of conduct is closely linked to poor teaching-learning outcomes; a comparable Nigerian study should help establish whether similar patterns hold in Shomolu Local Government Area, and the extent to which unethical conduct on the part of teachers has negatively affected the performance of junior secondary business studies students.
Second, the study should draw the attention of the Lagos State Government to the extent to which professional misconduct affects schools within Shomolu Local Government Area, and should provide the Post-Primary Teaching Service Commission (PPTESCOM) with useful material for monitoring unethical conduct both before and after recruitment. Proper record-keeping and accountability mechanisms, as Musa and Tanko (2023) observe in the context of school administration in North-West Nigeria, remain central to detecting and curbing such misconduct early.
Third, it is hoped that the successful completion of this work will encourage the Lagos State Ministry of Education to organise regular seminars, workshops and symposia on the ethics of the teaching profession, with a view to enhancing the academic performance of students. Educational administrators, parents, teachers, students, government agencies and the wider society stand to benefit from the findings of this study.
1.6 Limitations of the Study
i. The study faced some challenges, including the reluctance of a number of respondents to complete the questionnaires, and inadequate financial resources for the exercise.
ii. The researcher addressed the first challenge by explaining to respondents the academic importance of the exercise; this yielded a response rate of ninety-two percent (92%).
iii. With regard to funding, the researcher relied on the support of well-wishers, in addition to using part of her personal savings, to complete the study.
1.7 Delimitations of the Study
i. The study was confined to a sample of public secondary schools in Shomolu Local Government Area, as time and resources did not permit coverage of every school in the area.
ii. Private schools were excluded because they are not governed by the Teachers' Code of Conduct administered by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria in the same manner as public schools, but rather by each institution's own internal code (Okon & Odu, 2020).
iii. The study focused mainly on discipline-related issues among the teaching staff rather than on the general level of performance of teachers in the teaching and learning of business studies in secondary schools in Shomolu Local Government Area of Lagos State.
1.8 Definition of Terms
For the purpose of clarity, the following terms are defined as used in this study:
Professional: A person engaged in an occupation that requires specialised training, skill, or a high level of education, and who is expected to conform to the standards set by the body governing that occupation.
Misconduct: Behaviour that falls short of, or is at variance with, the standards of conduct expected of a person in a given position or role.
Professional Misconduct: Conduct by a certified practitioner that departs from the ethical standards, rules or scope of practice set by the profession to which the practitioner belongs (Nnorom & Ezenwagu, 2020).
Business Studies: A junior secondary school subject concerned with the study of money, trade and the management of enterprise, intended to lay the foundation for entrepreneurial and vocational competence among learners (Buba, 2020).
Code of Conduct: A set of rules, guidelines and ethical principles adopted by a professional body, such as the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, to guide the conduct of its members (TRCN, 2020).
Discipline: A systematic pattern of instruction, guidance and, where necessary, correction, intended to help an individual conform to an expected standard of behaviour (Arnold & Mwila, 2022).
Headteacher: The administrative and instructional head of a public secondary school, responsible, among other things, for the day-to-day supervision and discipline of the teaching staff.
REFERENCES
Arnold, E., & Mwila, P. M. (2022). Teacher professional code of conduct: Its effect on teaching and learning process in public secondary schools in Busega District, Simiyu, Tanzania. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 6(9), 607–612. https://doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2022.6927
Ayechew Ayenalem, K., Gone, M. A., Yohannes, M. E., & Lakew, K. A. (2023). Causes of teachers' professional misconduct in Ethiopian secondary schools: Implications for policy and practice. Cogent Education, 10(1), 2188754. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2188754
Buba, M. M. (2020). Perception of business educators and students on curriculum implementation in junior secondary schools in Adamawa State, Nigeria. International Business Education Journal, 13, 85–93.
Graham, S. (2022). Self-efficacy and language learning: What it is and what it isn't. The Language Learning Journal, 50(2), 186–201.
Imafidon, A., & Airemwen, O. J. (2022). Rules and routines as effective classroom management techniques on perceived students' academic achievement in shorthand in Edo State, Nigeria. Indian Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, 13(1), 1–7.
Musa, L., & Tanko, H. (2023). Record keeping culture in basic education: A survey of schools in North-West Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Educational Research, 19(1), 77–92.
Nnorom, S. U., & Ezenwagu, S. (2020). Proffering solution to professional misconduct among secondary school teachers in Nnewi Education Zone. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 4(5), 271–275.
Ogunrinbokun, B., Salawu, M., & Oluwole-Moses, O. (2023). Congestion in classrooms and academic achievement of junior secondary school business studies students in Lagos State, Nigeria. Akoka Journal of Vocational Education, 15(1).
Okon, I., & Odu, E. (2020). Legal responsibilities of teachers in Nigeria: Implications for professional practice. African Journal of Education Law and Policy, 8(1), 12–25.
Okoro, M. O. (2023). Business education and self-reliance: A remedy to graduate unemployment in Nigeria. Owerri: Imo Educational Publishers.
Okpo, O. (2022). Character and virtue in the Nigerian banking profession: An Aristotelian approach to professional ethics. Journal of Philosophy and Ethics, 4(1), 8–18.
Okpo, O. (2023). Ethics in the teaching profession: A virtue ethics approach to teaching ethics. GNOSI: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Human Theory and Praxis, 6(1), 195–209.
Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria [TRCN]. (2020). Teachers' code of conduct. Abuja: TRCN.
Thilagaratnam, J. S. J., & Yamat, H. (2021). Teachers' perception of students' misbehavior and assertive discipline in English classroom. International Journal of English Language Studies, 3(3), 7–15. https://doi.org/10.32996/ijels.2021.3.3.2
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